The Catcher In The Rye

J.D. Salinger's Catcher In The Rye is regarded as a great American classic. It's a narrative by the main character, the ever-brooding Holden Caulfield, and his childish trek through New York City in the 1950's after his expulsion from his prestigious preparatory school, Pencey Prep. Holden, the most pessimistic of 15 year olds, tells his three day story in 277 pages, constantly going off on meaningless tangents about past experiences.

Throughout the novel, we see Holden's pessimistic view of society; he views everyone as a "goddamn phony" and seems to trust no one, perhaps excluding his younger sister, Phoebe. At some points, Holden seems like a child, seeing the world and clumsily tripping through it for the first time, and others an old man, viewing the scenery with wise, bitter eyes, but most of the time, Holden is a bratty teenager, angry and mean. Holden smokes like there's no tomorrow, tries to find alcohol anywhere he can get it, and brings nearly every thought back to sex, although he is terrified of it. Holden often "swear[s] to God, [he's] a madman," for he is always making outbursts about wanting to leave, to move up North, excited and bright, and the next moment he is falling, crashing.

Holden's odd roller coaster of emotions is finally explained in the last few pages, when Holden reveals that he has been entered into a psychiatric hospital and has been telling his story to a therapist the entire novel. I think that the point of this is to endear the reader to Holden, but in all honesty, he's spent the entire novel bitching, and I can't find it in my heart to feel very badly for him. Holden claims that society has the problem, that society is out to get him, that society is phony, and yet Holden is the phoniest of all; he's a notorious liar, constantly giving fake names, fake ages, fake stories. Holden Caulfield may be the biggest oxymoron of a character that I've ever seen in a novel. I'll probably get beat up for this, but overall, the book didn't wow me. Perhaps because I expected too much to begin with; I think its reputation precedes it. Now, I'm not saying it's the worst thing I've ever had to work through, but the fact that it is so very beloved astounds me.

Nearly every "deep" artist out there sites it as a literary masterpiece. My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way, Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, and Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst all swear by it, and My Chemical Romance's Frank Iero was the lead singer in a band called Pencey Prep preceding My Chemical Romance. Still others lash out; the novel King Dork bashes the book, referring to those who obsess over it as a part of "The Catcher Cult" and commending anyone who's made it through high school without being forced to read it. A friend of mine couldn't even get through it, her hate of Caulfield was so passionate, and her older sister wants to name her first son Holden. Love it or hate it, Catcher In The Rye is certainly one of a kind, and shall remain the Bible of the underground for years to come.